Pro football player Hernandez charged with murder ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) — New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was arrested Wednesday and charged with murder in the shooting death of a friend prosecutors say had angered the NFL player at a nightclub a few days earlier by talking to the wrong people. Hernandez, 23, was taken from his North Attleborough home in handcuffs just over a week after Boston semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd’s bullet-riddled body was found in an industrial ...

NIH to retire most chimps from medical research WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s official: The National Institutes of Health plans to end most use of chimpanzees in government medical research, saying humans’ closest relatives “deserve special respect.” The NIH announced Wednesday that it will retire about 310 government-owned chimpanzees from research over the next few years, and keep only 50 others essentially on retainer — available if needed for crucial medical studies that could be performed no ...

Murder conviction against US Marine overturned SAN DIEGO (AP) — The military’s highest court overturned a murder conviction Wednesday against a Camp Pendleton Marine in one of the most significant cases against American troops from the Iraq war. The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces threw out the conviction of Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III of Plymouth, Mass., who has served about half of his 11-year sentence. According to the ruling posted on the court’s website, the judges agreed with Hu...

Lawmakers want more details before funding Syria WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is balking at the administration’s first attempt to pay for lethal aid to the Syrian rebels until the White House presents a more fully developed proposal than one they received last week from Secretary of State John Kerry, including options for what the U.S. will do next if the initial surge of arms fails to improve the rebels’ standing in the civil war that’s gone on for more than two years. Lawmakers last week rej...

Artists, activists unite at Bradley Manning trial FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — Clark Stoeckley is Bradley Manning’s most visible supporter at the soldier’s court-martial. He arrives each day in a white box truck with bold words painted on the sides: “WikiLeaks TOP SECRET Mobile Information Collection Unit.” The provocative gag even has a nonworking satellite dish and two fake security cameras on it. Stoeckley, a 30-year-old art instructor at a New Jersey college, is among the more colorful of the 1...

Slower US growth might lead Fed to delay tapering WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy may not be strong enough for the Federal Reserve to slow its bond purchases later this year. That’s the takeaway from economists after the government cut its estimate Wednesday of growth in the January-March quarter to a 1.8 percent annual rate, sharply below its previous estimate of a 2.4 percent rate. The main reason: Consumers spent less than previously thought. Most economists think growth will remain low...

Microsoft tweaks Windows 8, blamed for PC slump SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft is trying to reverse slumping PC sales and quiet growing criticism of its flagship operating system with the release of a revised version of Windows 8. On Wednesday, Microsoft made a preview version of Windows 8.1 available for download. It includes alterations meant to address consumer dissatisfaction with the operating system. Analysts believe users’ frustration with Windows 8 is partly to blame for the biggest...

Couple lets coffee drinkers choose baby name WEST HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut couple has named its baby with help from customers at a Starbucks coffee shop. Twenty-five-year-old Jennifer James and 24-year-old Mark Dixon of West Haven told the New Haven Register (http://bit.ly/1adT5d6 ) they had been struggling between two names for the boy they are expecting in September, so they decided to put it to a vote. They placed signs at the Starbucks on the New Haven Green, where they are ...

Supreme Court gives gay marriage historic boost WASHINGTON (AP) — In a historic day for gay rights, the Supreme Court gave the nation’s legally married gay couples equal federal footing with all other married Americans on Wednesday and also cleared the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California. In deciding its first cases on the issue, the high court did not issue the sweeping declaration sought by gay rights advocates that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry anywhere in t...

Supreme Court halts use of key part of voting law WASHINGTON (AP) — A deeply divided Supreme Court threw out the most powerful part of the landmark Voting Rights Act on Tuesday, a decision deplored by the White House but cheered by mostly Southern states now free from nearly 50 years of intense federal oversight of their elections. Split along ideological and partisan lines, the justices voted 5-4 to strip the government of its most potent tool to stop voting bias — the requirement in the Vot...

Texas prepares to execute 500th inmate HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Jim Willett remembers the night of Dec. 6, 1982, when he was assigned to guard a mortuary van that had arrived at the death house at the Huntsville prison. “I remember thinking: We’re really going to do this. This is really going to happen,” says Willett, who was a captain for the Texas Department of Corrections. When the van pulled away early the next morning, it carried to a nearby funeral home the body of convicted ...

Obama opens 2nd-term drive against climate change WASHINGTON (AP) — Appealing for courageous action “before it’s too late,” President Barack Obama launched a major second-term drive Tuesday to combat climate change and secure a safer planet, bypassing Congress as he sought to set a cornerstone of his legacy. Abandoning his suit jacket under a sweltering sun at Georgetown University, Obama issued a dire warning about the environment: Temperatures are rising, sea level is climbing, the Arctic i...

Army to cut brigades at 10 US bases WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army will eliminate at least 12 combat brigades, relocate thousands of soldiers and cancel $400 million in construction projects as the first wave of federal budget cuts takes aim at military communities around the country. In a massive restructuring, Army leaders said Tuesday that they will slash the number of active duty combat brigades from 45 to 33, as the service moves forward with a longtime plan to cut the size of ...

GOP divided on immigration; House uncertain WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are split over the immigration bill steaming toward approval at week’s end, a divide that renders the ultimate fate of White House-backed legislation unpredictable in the House and complicates the party’s ability to broaden its appeal among Hispanic voters. To some Republicans, the strength of Senate GOP support for the bill is all but irrelevant to its prospects in the House. Conservatives there hold a maj...

Smithfield drops Paula Deen as spokeswoman NEW YORK (AP) — Paula Deen lost another part of her empire on Monday: Smithfield Foods said it is dropping her as a spokeswoman. The announcement came days after the Food Network said it would not renew the celebrity cook’s contract in the wake of revelations that she used racial slurs in the past. Smithfield sold Paula Deen-branded hams in addition to using her as a spokeswoman. In a statement, the company said it “condemns the use of offensi...

Judge in Trayvon Martin case weighs police calls SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Several times in six months, neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman called police to report suspicious characters in the gated townhouse community where he lived. Each time, when asked, he reported that the suspects were black males. On Tuesday, the judge at Zimmerman’s murder trial in the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin listened to those five calls and weighed whether to let the jury hear them, too. Prosecutors...

Reports reflect Fed’s message of stronger economy WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. housing recovery is strengthening. Factories are fielding more orders. And Americans’ confidence in the economy has reached its highest point in 5 1/2 years. That brightening picture, captured in four reports Tuesday, suggests that the economy could accelerate in the second half of the year. It underscores the message last week from the Federal Reserve, which plans to slow its bond-buying program this year and end it...

AP Survey: Bernanke comments surprised investors WASHINGTON (AP) — Stock and bond prices are sinking because investors were caught off guard and alarmed by the Federal Reserve’s signal that long-term interest rates are headed higher. That’s the view that emerges from an Associated Press survey of economists late last week. A majority of the more than two dozen economists polled support the Fed’s plan to start slowing its bond purchases later this year if the U.S. economy continues to strengt...

Dem Rep. Markey wins US Senate election in Mass. BOSTON (AP) — Longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Edward Markey defeated Republican political newcomer Gabriel Gomez in a special election on Tuesday for the state’s U.S. Senate seat long held by John Kerry, a race that failed to draw the attention that the state’s 2010 special Senate election did. Markey, 66, won the early backing of Kerry and much of the state’s Democratic political establishment, which was set on avoiding a repeat of the stunning...

Senators propose overhaul of housing finance WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday proposed an overhaul to the housing finance system that would gradually eliminate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored mortgage guarantee giants, and shift more mortgage and credit risk to the private sector. Eight lawmakers from the Senate Banking Committee — four Democrats and four Republicans — said their legislation would protect taxpayers from bearing the cost...